After 3 years of silence, Dragon Quest 3's gorgeous remake rears its head with a tease that more HD-2D JRPG remakes are in the works: "The legend of Erdrick draws near"

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36 years after launch, the classic is making its return

Dragon Quest 3 HD
(Image credit: Square Enix)

The Dragon Quest 3 remake was announced all the way back in 2021 with a trailer that reimagined the classic JRPG in Octopath Traveler's HD-2D art style, and now, publisher Square Enix has offered an update on the project alongside a tease of potential remakes in the 36-year-old series' future.

The Dragon Quest series' official social media account released a short clip earlier today, on May 27, lighting up the Dragon Quest logo above newly-confirmed platforms, including Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. Square Enix recently announced plans to shift to a multiplatform strategy, as opposed to temporarily locking games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth behind a single console, and we're beginning to see the first signs of that approach here.

What's more intriguing is that the new video, released to mark Dragon Quest Day, might actually be teasing further HD-2D remakes. "The legend of Erdrick draws near," the announcement tweet teases. While the Erdrick moniker stretches to the most recent Dragon Quest 11, the "legend of Erdrick" takes place across the first three games in the series, not just Dragon Quest 3.

Speculation about potential remakes for the first three Dragon Quests is currently rampant, not least because the tease above actually doesn't mention the Dragon Quest 3 remake directly. The "HD-2D" logo placed above lets us know that the clip isn't divulging information about the still mysterious Dragon Quest 12, and Dragon Quest 3 is currently the company's only known HD-2D game in production. But the lack of Dragon Quest 3's name leaves the door open for something more, which would also explain the project's protracted absence. 

A Dragon Quest fan remake 11 years in the making is available to download for free, and it adds 6-8 hours of new content. 

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Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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